Episode 618: May We Make Them Proud (Part 1)
"May We Make Them Proud: Part 1" was the first part of a two-episode story, also the 156th overall series episode, and the 18th episode of Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie. Written and directed by Michael Landon, the episode originally aired on NBC-TV on February 4, 1980. Plot summary In an episode that marks the turning point for both the characters and the series in general, Albert and a friend, Clay, inadvertently cause a fire at the School for the Blind, killing Alice Garvey and Mary's infant son. After Albert unwittingly causes Mary to snap out of her trance, he runs away to his old home in Olney, only to find a grave that says J. QUINN on it (which means that after the episode The Family Tree Albert's biological father somehow died). Soon Albert must come face-to-face with what he has done. It is unknown how Albert's biological father died. Full Summary During a picnic at the School for the Blind, Albert and a friend sneak into the basement to smoke a pipe that they stole from an elderly visitor. Hester Sue shoos them out of the basement. In Albert's haste to leave, he leaves the pipe with the still-burning tobacco in the basement. The pipe begins to smolder for several hours well into the evening. Hester Sue, Alice Garvey, and Adam, who is exhausted from the long day are relaxing over coffee in the kitchen, completely unaware that the entire basement is now up in flames. When Adam notices a smell of smoke, Hester Sue goes to check it out. When she sees some smoke creeping out of the basement door, she opens it and unintentionally allows the fire to permeate the upstairs area. Adam, Hester Sue and Alice rush to wake up the children and get them out of the building. Adam runs into his bedroom where Mary is with the baby. Adam grabs her hand and leads her out, leaving the baby in his crib. Shockingly, Mary does not even call out or try to grab her son. Meanwhile, Hester Sue and Alice are helping get the other children outside. When Mary finally remembers about her baby, Alice shoots her outside and goes to get the baby herself, but then she hears a child calling out from the bathroom, so she leaves the baby in the bedroom and runs to tend to the other child, who is stuck in the bathroom. She manages to get him out and send him outside while she goes to get the baby. By the time Alice gets the baby in her arms and turns around to get outside, it is much too late. The doorway is now nothing but a wall of fire and Alice and the baby are trapped on the other side of it. The child who was stuck in the bathroom stumbles outside, coughing and disoriented. Hester Sue frantically runs back in to look for Alice, but the entire upstairs is in flames, so she rushes back outside. Then, to her horror, she sees Alice from the upstairs window, screaming and trying to escape by breaking a window. Now aware that their baby is still in there, Adam and Mary are in a state of panic. Adam tries to go back in, but Hester Sue holds him back, telling him it is too late. There is nothing left to do but sit in the grass as their beloved blind school burns down with Alice and Adam Jr. unable to escape. The next morning, the blind school is completely gone. The body of Alice Garvey has been found, but not Adam Jr's. Mary (who is in a state of shock) refuses to go anywhere until her baby is in her arms. Charles finds the baby and has his dead body in his arms as he walks up to Caroline and Mary. Mary insists on holding him. In a total daze, she starts rocking him and singing him a lullaby. Doc Baker and Charles walk through the rubble, trying to find some trace of what may have caused this tragic fire. In the area that was once the basement, Doc Baker finds the pipe and determines that this must have been the cause. Later that night, at home, Charles tells Laura what Doc Baker found. Albert (who overhears) is stunned as he learns that the pipe he threw away carelessly was the cause of the fire. A couple days later, when the funeral takes place, Albert (who has still not told anyone about his use of the pipe) is an emotional wreck and talks Charles into letting him stay home. Meanwhile, Mary (who woke up the night before screaming for her baby and smashed her hands through some windows) has now officially slipped into shock. Nobody can get her to rise from her bed and come to the funeral; all she does is stare into space and softly hum the same lullaby to herself. Jonathan Garvey (who is anguish over his wife's death) turns to drinking to cope with the pain and in doing so, he alienates his young son Andy, who is also trying to cope with the loss of his mother. It gets to the point where Jonathan can no longer even look at his own son because it reminds him too much of Alice. Charles takes a pain-stricken Albert with him to Sleepy Eye. He knows that he is going through something, but since Albert won't talk about it, Charles just assumes that he's still shaken up over the fire. When they are in a store shopping, Charles attempts to cheer Albert up by buying him a rifle, but just before he's about to pay for it, Albert comes across a music box. The box plays the exact same lullaby melody that Mary (who is still in shock) hums to herself all the time. Thinking that this is Mary's favorite song, Albert asks Charles if he can get this for Mary instead of the rifle for himself. Charles agrees and when they get back to Walnut Grove, Albert goes right to the hotel to see Mary and give her the gift. When Mary won't open it herself, Albert opens it for her and starts playing the music. Suddenly, a strange look comes over Mary's face and she starts screaming violently "My baby! My baby!" over and over. Terrified and in tears, Albert says "I didn't mean it! It was an accident!" and runs out while Laura and Nellie run upstairs to help Mary. Meanwhile, Jonathan's pain and alcoholism flaring deeper which causes Charles to intervene and he helps his friend not only come to grips with this tragedy, but also learn to embrace his child again (who is a living piece of Alice). It helps Jonathan a great deal when Charles tells him how disappointed Alice would be to see her husband carrying on this way. Charles says, "We need to try and live in a way that will make them proud" and this is of particular significance to Jonathan, who finally finds the strength to make amends with Andy. In the next scene, everyone goes over to the hotel to see Mary, who is now out of her shock and finally acknowledges that there was a fire and her baby died in it. The music box dug up all those bottled-up emotions, so she was able to recover. Mary then remembered the words Albert kept screaming over and over and she doesn't understand what he meant by them. Hester Sue, who is also there, puts all the pieces together and remembers how she shooed Albert and his friend out of the basement that day. She realizes that they must have been smoking and that's where the burning pipe came from. Charles rushes back to the house to look for Albert, but he has run away. He and Jonathan go on a frantic search to locate him. First, though, they go over to see Albert's friend, who was with him on the day of the picnic. They get the boy to break down and admit that they were smoking. From there, Charles and Jonathan go to find Albert, and finally Jonathan tracks him down. Albert resists and keeps saying it was his fault, but Jonathan assures him that it wasn't anyone's fault; it just happened and now they all have to move forward. Jonathan and Albert then go to meet Charles, who calls out "I love you" to Albert. Albert runs to him and they hug. A few days later, there is a gathering at the site where all the debris is from the fire. Adam (who went to spend time with his father after the fire) talks about how his dad has asked to fully finance the building of the new blind school. Adam now realizes that people can change (even his father, whom he once resented). Adam's father also requested to name the new school, and he sent a special plaque back to Walnut Grove with Adam. Adam asks Mary, Jonathan, and Andy to step forward as he unveils the sign: "The Alice Garvey and Adam Kendall Jr. School for the Blind." "May we make them proud" are the last words of this emotional episode, spoken by Adam as everyone watches in dead silence. Quotes :Charles (to Jonathan): I just thought I'd stop by. :Jonathan: Well, that's nice, but I'm fine. :Charles: Well, your son's not. :Jonathan: Get out of here, Charles. :Charles: No, Jonathan. :Jonathan: I didn't invite you here, so it would be best if you left now. :Charles: Not until we talk. :Jonathan: (getting angry) I don't want to hurt you, Charles. :Charles: Why, because I'm your friend? Andy's your son. You don't seem to mind hurting him. :Charles: Why don't you come to Church with us on Sunday? It helps, believe me. :Jonathan: Thank God for letting my wife die? That's what He did, ain't it? That's what He did for me. He let her die. And you want me to praise Him? :Charles: Jonathan. :Jonathan: No. If you want to believe, that's fine for you, but not for me. :Charles: You believe and you know it. :Jonathan: I don't want to. I don't want to believe. It's easier if I don't. Cuz if there is a God, Charles, he let your grandson die, and he let my Alice die, and I don't want to be believing in a God who would do that. :Charles: Why is God responsible? It's just something that happened. :Jonathan: Because he could have stopped it. I read about all them miracles in the Bible. If he could perform them miracles, then why didn't he perform one the other night? Why didn't he stop it? Tell me, Charles. Why? :Charles: I don't know. (long pause) If I did know, I'd be God. :Jonathan: I just don't seem to know what I'm doing. Oh, dear God, am I supposed to forget her? :Charles: No. Dear God, no, you don't forget her. Time doesn't make you forget, not somebody you loved. You're gonna remember Alice, and I'm gonna remember my grandson. But we're gonna go on, and we need to try to live in a way that would make them proud. We've got to try. :Jonathan: Oh, God, I can't! :Charles: You can! :Jonathan: I can't! :Charles: Yes, you can. If you really love Alice, you can. :Jonathan: I can't! :Charles: You can! Andy's not just your son. He's a living part of Alice, a part of the woman you love. Every time you hurt him, you hurt Alice and you hurt yourself! :Adam: All right, whose turn is it for prayers? :James: Mine. Dear Lord, thank you for all your blessings and thank you for all the folks of Walnut Grove who helped us today. And I know you'll do something bad to the folks who didn't help. :Adam: James. :James: Yes, sir? :Adam: Prayers are for thanking the Lord, not telling Him to punish people. :James: I didn't tell Him to do nothing. I just said I knew He would! :Adam: Just finish the prayer, James. :James: Yes, sir. Do what you think is best, Lord, and God bless all our loved ones. Amen. :Adam: As some of you may know, I was back East last week in New York. I spent some time with my father and told him about the tragedy we have had. You'd all have to know the way my father was in the past to realize what a miracle it is when I tell you that he has asked to be able to finance the rebuilding of the blind school. Believe me, I will never again look at any man on the face of the Earth and say that he'll never change. My father did make one request, that he be allowed to name the new school. He sent this plaque back with me. Mary? Jonathan? (Mary, Jonathan, and Andy step forward) We dedicate this school in memory of Alice Garvey and Adam Charles Holbrook Kendall. (Adam unveils the plaque) May we make them proud. Cast * Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls * Karen Grassle as Caroline Ingalls * Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder * Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls Kendall * Lindsay Greenbush / Sidney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls Recurring cast / Guest stars * Richard Bull as Nels Oleson * Katherine MacGregor as Harriet Oleson * Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson * Jonathan Gilbert as Willie Oleson * Merlin Olsen as Jonathan Garvey * Hersha Parady as Alice Garvey * Patrick Labyorteaux as Andrew Garvey * Kevin Hagen as Hiram Baker * Lucy Lee Flippin as Eliza Jane Wilder * Jeffrey as Bandit ;Rest of cast listed alphabetically: *Tobias Anderson as Hank Mays (as Tobias Andersen) *Paul Barselou as Herb Gooder *Bill Calvert as Clay Mays *Dago Dimster as Tim *Michelle Downey as Susan Goodspeed *Ken Hill as Lawyer *Tom Kindle as Jason *Gil Lamb as Harlan Potts *Ketty Lester as Hester-Sue Terhune *Dan McBride as Henry *De'voreaux White as James (as D. White) *Naomi White as Secretary *John Zaremba as Judge Adams External links * IMDb * TV.com * TV Guide * YouTube 618 Category:Season 6 episodes